


Happy is the man who has learned the causes of things

by Zoisitechan



Category: Black Sails
Genre: And it's fucking canon, Episode: s04e10 Coda, M/M, OTP Feels, Post-Series, Thomas is fucking alive
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-04
Updated: 2017-04-04
Packaged: 2018-10-14 18:52:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10542459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zoisitechan/pseuds/Zoisitechan
Summary: The heart, when it explodes like gunpowder, which sound does it make?Series finale coda.





	

 

It was him.  
  
It was him,  
  
really him.  
  
His lean shoulders, aristocratic posture even in a plowed field in the middle of nowhere, his blond hair turned slightly silvery by the many years in between: Thomas.  
  
The heart, when it explodes like gunpowder, which sound does it make?  
Flint - or only James, now? - could almost feel it expand in his ribcage and then ignite like a bonfire, like one of the towns he burnt to the ground.  
  
Thomas looked at the man, took him in, then no standing back, no hesitation, no fear. He recognized him and smiled, laughed. He was happy: the pure happiness of the purest man.  
God almighty.  
He jumped into James's arms, white clothes and black clothes colliding, hands caressing heads, foreheads touching, lips meeting lips.  
  
Thomas didn't care - he never did, did he? - of those strangers around while he kissed his truest love. ' _Know no shame'._ Because he was never ashamed, and he was never going to be, of loving someone.

 

One of the guards eventually came and put a shovel in Flint's hands, "Try to get some work done."

"I'll show you how to do it", Thomas smirked gracefully, resuming the job he was doing before James's arrival. And then he asked that one question James was too overwhelmed by the moment to even start to fear.

"Where's Miranda?"

 

Again, James's heart stopped. This time, with guilt and grief. _'How do I even begin to tell Thomas about her? How could I tell him anything... Anything at all about these years?'_

"They said you took your life in prison" was the only thing James muttered, his lover's question unanswered. "For all this time, I believed you dead."

"Oh, dear God, James. I'm so sorry." Everything in Thomas's face showed love and understanding, but he wouldn't have remotely imagined which demons arose in James, _who_ he became because of that.

They agreed to talk later, after dinner, and James tormented himself for the rest of the day thinking that he always dreamt of having Thomas back, but he never questioned, not once, if Thomas would have wanted _him_ back, if he knew the things James was about to tell.

 

Evening came and the men moved to a sort of a dining room in the barracks. Thomas and James sat at the end of the long table, facing each other. The meal was frugal, soup, bread, fruit.  
  
James frowned, watching a lord forced to live in such humble conditions and suspecting that he must have been through worse. Yet, Thomas seemed to have adapted quite well.

"Are you alright" James asked warily "have you been alright, so far from home, so..."  
"Here's fine" Thomas answered promptly. In Bedlam, it really wasn't, he had known isolation, mistreatment, abuse... but he didn't mention it, to avoid further anguish for James.  
  
"Working in the open air reinforces body and spirit. _O fortunatos nimium, sua si bona norint agricolas..._ " he said instead, quoting Virgil, trying to focus on the good side of things like he always did.  
"I'll take you out of here" James whispered, moving closer in order not to be heard by the guards. "Just say the word and I'll take you wherever you want."  
  
"We'll think about it, James. For tonight, why don't we just go to my quarters, so we can talk? I enjoy a privileged treatment in this plantation... I have access to the library and, above all, I have a room to myself that now I can share with you. There are two beds, nobody will care."

 

The "room" was more like an unused deposit, but it was for the exclusive use of Thomas, with twin large beds and a desk on which laid scattered some papers, pen and ink and many books.

"Thomas..." James started, agony in his voice, "I want you to listen to me. The things I'm gonna tell you, I'm gonna tell you because I find repulsive the idea of concealing them to you, even if that would be convenient, as afraid as I am here to lose you, now that I've found you again. But you're entitled to the truth, even if you'll find _me_ repulsive afterwards."

"James, what is it?" Thomas smiled encouragingly, but there was concern in his eyes.

And James told Thomas everything.  
He spoke from dusk until the stars were high in the sky. He told Thomas what happened from the moment he went to Admiral Hennessey only to find Alfred Hamilton there, to the moment he crossed the plantation's gates.  
During those hours, Thomas - sitting at his desk - said nothing but ceased to look at James, who stood by the window, pale, his head bowed.

At the end of the story, Thomas remained quiet for what it felt like another eternity.  
Eventually, he spoke.

"On something you were right: I am repulsed..." his voice cracked "by the way things came down hard on you. England casted you out, betrayed you, deceived you, wounded you, and nothing came in ten years to ease your pain. Instead, they poured salt on your wounds... Taking revenge upon my father and Peter, failing to protect Miranda, I suppose these are the things you were afraid to tell me the most, so you tried to convince me you became some horrible man, lawless, godless, a murderer, who sought the redemption of Nassau but who ultimately was driven by nothing but rage... You didn't persuade me. All I see is a desperate man, alone, hurt, who tried to stand against injustice with the only means left to him, who fought violence with violence because they gave him no choice."

"Don't be so forgiving... please", James almost sobbed.

"Then tell me, James... Where's God's wrath in this? Because all I can see is the Lord giving you another chance at life."

"I don't know, but it's not God's judgement I fear, it's yours... I never expected to meet you again, not even in the afterlife, because people like me and people like you go to different places, or so they say. But here you are, Thomas. And I have decade of _Flint_ to account for."

Thomas knew he could forgive James or not. He also knew that, in the second case, James would shatter. So he approached his lover and cupped his face with both hands, his feelings clear in his heart.  
"Flint doesn't make any difference to my love for you" he counterclaimed and then he simply began to undress in the dim light.

It was as if time stopped and it went back to the first time Lieutenant James McGraw followed Thomas into his chambers. Back then, Thomas led James to his room and everything happened gently, beautifully.  
Thomas had removed from his body every single piece of his sumptuous clothing, revealing a perfect and smooth skin that James had longed to touch almost painfully.

Thomas had aged over the years, but he wasn't changed; his natural grace didn't cease to exist because he lost his name and fortune and fine clothes, quite the contrary.

James didn't move, mesmerized as he watched Thomas when he was left with nothing on.

"Your turn," the other man said, helping James - whose hands were shaking - to strip naked.

 

When they laid together onto the bed, Thomas set himself on top, tracing his fingertips over his lover's many scars.

"I never dared to dream of holding you again..." James whispered, "I want you..."

Putting his palms suggestively on James's muscular thighs Thomas asked, "May I?" and the other man nodded, eyes filled with desire.

Thomas lifted and parted James's legs while kissing his mouth; his long fingers found their way to his mate's most private spot, starting to work him open.

James moaned exquisitely, his face and chest on fire, " Please, Thomas, please."

"You're not ready yet", the other man answered.

"Please, just -" James insisted, so Thomas positioned himself between James's thighs, aligned his member with James's entrance and started penetrating him.

The pain was excruciating for both, at first, but so was the crescent pleasure.

"God", Thomas gasped for air.

"Fuck", James roared.

Thomas started moving, slowly at first to let James's body adjust, then he increased his rhythm. “Open your legs wider" he invited him, seductively. James did like he was told, to allow deeper penetration. Meanwhile Thomas's hand had started to stoke and stimulate James's cock. James posed his own hand on his lover's and set the tempo. 

They were however both too close to last longer, so Thomas plunged in deep, held James tight and let his seed burst forth. James came only seconds apart in Thomas's hand. 

For a while they didn't speak, just remained there, bodies entangled.

"Thomas" James finally said, his heart still heavy. "The man I've been in these ten years... he dissolved the moment I saw you, today in the field, when your very existence awakened my former self, buried deep in me. But the sins I've committed still stand."

"You'll - _we'll_ \- have to live with them. There's no other way. You abjured your war to be here with me, I think it's a start. You'll never go back to that life, you've learned from your past... That's enough for me. Happy is the man who learned the causes of things, James. Now we move on."

"Thomas... I cannot possibly deserve you. How could I?"

"Hush. We'll make this alright."

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> For once in my fucking life, it's canon. It's a canonical OTP HAPPY ENDING for my sore and unworthy eyes.  
> So I've lost any ability to write (if I ever had any), let alone how to English. Sorry.  
> Xxxxx  
> 


End file.
